The Dangers of Withholding Sugar from Babies

I made the mistake of shopping for groceries at the area’s busiest shopping center two weekends before Christmas. Grocery trips, even when the store is crowded, aren’t usually that bad. However, the stores aren’t usually as crowded as they were this past weekend – literally standing in line to look for various spices and make my way down certain aisles. And usually, I can use one of the double-buggies that seat two children at a safe distance from the food. (I have been known to pull the buggy while pushing the double stroller but that is simply comical when attempted in such crowds.) Alas, Target was out of the double buggies so I had three choices: walk all the way back to the van to get the stroller (yes, it was that far away) and attempt the push-pull method; go home and eat out for the third straight night; or be a bad mommy and put one of my children in the back of the buggy and strap the other safely into the child seat at the front. I chose option three.

Mac is typically more bouncy and hyper so I initially strapped him in and let Omi have free reign with the loose items quickly accumulating in the buggy. That lasted about 15 minutes. Until I realized that Omi was tossing items as quickly as I was. Only she was tossing them out of the buggy. So, we switched places and Mac got to play with all the bags and containers while Omi slumped in the front like I’d taken away her favorite doll. This worked well for most of the rest of the trip. Until the baby food incident.

I was fruitlessly looking for holiday M&Ms in the candy aisle when I heard the first crash. I looked back and saw what any mother would instantly recognize as mashed sweet potatoes all over the floor, littered by glass from a broken baby food container. My first thought was, “Geez, can’t people control their kids? Who lets their children play with glass containers?” As the second jar flew over my head I saw with horror that it was my precious son flinging the glass jars, delighted by the crash and colors. Before I could stand up, he had jar #3 in his hand. Like the pro-ball player I always knew lurked deep within me, I caught the jar before it hit a hard surface. After glancing around for someone who actually worked at the store (and making sure no one else had witnessed the incident), I pushed as much glass as possible out of the way and abandoned all hope of finding the remaining items on my list.

As my still-embarrassed self pushed one buggy and pulled another one out of the store, each with one child safely strapped in and the food safely bagged at the bottom of each buggy, I couldn’t help but laugh. What child wouldn’t try to get rid of the veggies he knew he would be expected to eat while staring at all the chocolate and sugar in the candy aisle? Heck, I’d probably start chucking jars of sweet potatoes and squash too if I knew I wouldn’t be allowed to eat any of the candy being piled in my buggy.